nautical vacation

the little touches matter,

like these peonies from Annie's garden

Very rarely do we get to actually vacation together as a family. And how nice to take a vacation in our own Vacationland playground! But we had that luxury these past few days aboard the schooner J & E Riggin, with our hosts Captains Annie and John, sailing in Penobscot Bay---it's a terrific way to experience Maine. You may remember Annie, who catered my graduation party? She also is a captain and the chef on the schooner all summer, cooking meals for 20+ people using a wood-fired cookstove. Yes, the whole she-bang!

This stove is the animal that cooked us pork loin, peach cobblers, sticky buns, fresh bread (see it, up above in the corner?), soups, and homemade tortillas, to name a few. I'm a little bit in awe of that.

the schooner Heritage (?) rounding the point into the harbor

Yes, it was foggy, but we did have some sun too.

Some of us swam in the 55 degree water. That wasn't me. Check out the death grip to get back up the ladder.

We worked for the boat. Two little helpers also found work in the galley each morning.

hauling up the anchor in the morning,

using my core, because it was seriously heavy

(OK, WTF blogger, why can't I get rid of the underline?!)

furling the sails at day's end

We worked with our hands.

will have more pics of this little number in a few days,

when it arrives at its intended recipient,

who was born yesterday

I made two lanyards for the window pegs in the galley

We laughed and played games.

This is me, spying through the galley windows at an in-process game of Spoons (the rules seem crazy, though I haven't played it yet). The light was too delicious to pass by.

So relaxing, so fun, so much laughter. I wish I had taken some photos of our amazing meals, but the galley is quite cozy, and I never had my camera with me down there. Also, Annie has hand-made all of the quilts on the bunks, yet another photo op missed. I'll just have to get on board again for the photos I missed. The crew of this vessel is a good bunch (both on the boat and on shore...Hi, Elizabeth!), led with kindness and humor by their captains. We're so glad we got to sail with them again!